Chapter 6 - THE OTHER GIRLWe escaped the mansion before dawn.
By sunrise, three cars were burning in the driveway.
Two of my men were dead.
Seven were missing.
My brother had vanished.
And my wife was alive somewhere in Chicago.
The world had become a maze with every exit locked.
I took Grace and Evelyn to an abandoned warehouse on the South Side.
It had belonged to me once.
Nobody knew I still owned it.
At least, that was what I thought.
Grace sat in the back of a bulletproof SUV.
She hadn't spoken for twenty minutes.
I sat beside her.
"Tell me about the girl."
She didn't answer.
"Grace."
"I don't know her name."
"Was she your age?"
"No."
"Older?"
"Same age."
My stomach tightened.
"How?"
Grace touched her temple.
"She was standing across from me."
"And?"
"She said my name."
"What did she say?"
Grace whispered:
"Hello, sister."
I stared at her.
My daughter had no sister.
Not that I knew of.
I looked at Evelyn.
"Was Elena pregnant before Grace?"
Evelyn said nothing.
"Evelyn."
"Yes."
My heart pounded.
"What?"
"Elena was pregnant."
"With twins?"
She nodded.
"Why didn't I know?"
"Because one baby was stillborn."
I stared at her.
"That's what I was told."
"It wasn't true."
I felt something inside me break.
"Where is she?"
Evelyn looked at Grace.
"That's what we need to find out."
The warehouse lights flickered.
A gunshot shattered one of the windows.
I dragged Grace down.
Evelyn fired back.
"Sniper!"
We moved into the storage room.
Another shot.
Then silence.
I looked through a small gap in the door.
Across the street, a black sedan pulled away.
"Who was it?"
Evelyn walked to the broken window.
"Not Wolf."
"How do you know?"
"Because they missed."
I looked at her.
"What?"
"If they wanted us dead, we'd be dead."
Grace stood.
"They wanted me to hear something."
I frowned.
"What?"
She pointed toward the window.
A small device had fallen onto the warehouse floor.
Evelyn picked it up.
A speaker.
She pressed play.
A girl's voice filled the room.
"Grace."
Grace froze.
The voice continued.
"My name is Lily."
I stared.
"I am your sister."
Grace's eyes filled with tears.
"Lily..."
The recording continued.
"They told you I didn't exist."
A pause.
"They told Dad I died."
Another pause.
"They told Mom I would replace you."
The recording crackled.
Then Lily whispered:
"Don't trust Evelyn."
The device went dead.
I looked at Evelyn.
She didn't move.
Grace turned toward her.
"Why does she say that?"
Evelyn's face was unreadable.
"Because Lily doesn't know everything."
"Do you?"
"Yes."
"Then tell me."
Evelyn looked at me.
"Your second daughter was taken six months before Grace's conditioning."
"By the Wolf?"
"No."
"Then who?"
Evelyn's voice dropped.
"The Caruso family."
I stared.
"What?"
"Your father."
My pulse stopped.
"My father died fifteen years ago."
"His organization didn't."
I remembered the old stories.
My father had built the first version of our criminal empire.
I had spent years destroying his network and replacing it with my own.
Or so I believed.
Evelyn continued.
"Your father had a program."
"What program?"
"Children."
I stared at her.
"You're telling me my father experimented on children?"
"Not experimented."
She hesitated.
"Trained."
"Why?"
"To create successors."
I looked at Grace.
"How many?"
Evelyn's answer was barely audible.
"Seven."
Grace suddenly whispered:
"We're not the only ones."
I looked at her.
"What?"
"There are six others."
She pointed toward the floor.
"They're all awake."
I felt the world go cold.
"How do you know?"
Grace closed her eyes.
"I can hear them."
Evelyn rushed toward the door.
"We have to move."
"Why?"
"Because Grace just activated the network."
The warehouse alarm suddenly screamed.
Every monitor turned on simultaneously.
Seven faces appeared.
Children.
Teenagers.
Young adults.
All staring into the camera.
Then a final message appeared.
ARCHIVE ZERO ACTIVATED.
Beneath it:
ALL SUBJECTS LOCATED.
Then another line appeared.
THE HUNT BEGINS IN 30 MINUTES.
Grace looked at me.
"Dad."
"What?"
"Someone is coming."
"Who?"
She turned toward the warehouse entrance.
"My sister."
May you like
The doors exploded inward.
And standing in the smoke was a girl with Grace's face.
